Welcome to a simple lifestyle emphasizing a diet of whole plant foods and natural living.The principles of natural living address the cause of disease and health! I blog about plant based eating and other stuff. -Janis Hopper

Monday, December 31, 2012

It's still cold here. It didn't warm up as much as expected today. I ventured out to Walgreens to pick up a photo order, Company's Coming to check out the sale, and to Walmart for a daypack and groceries.

I have plans to be more active in the new year. Today I called two people at Ouachita Mountain Hikers to let them know I plan to start hiking with them. I mailed in my $5.00 annual dues today.

The Ouachita Mountain Hikers hike on Thursdays and Saturdays. The Saturday hikes are easier hikes that are 4-6 miles long. The Thursday hikes are more difficult hikes on forest trails that are 8-12 miles long.

I bought the daypack today at Walmart to use on the hikes. It will hold my stuff...my food, water, camera, phone, layers, etc. This little daypack was $8.88, and I think it will work just fine.

My new daypack.

Tomorrow there is a 4 mile hike at Lake Ouachita State Park. The state parks are hosting an event called "First Day Hike". The one at Lake Ouachita will be on the Caddo Bend trail. What a great way to celebrate the new year. This is in coordination with a nation-wide movement to get people on the trails. Weather permitting, I plan to be there at 9:00.

Lunch today was a fruit smoothie, 1/2 avocado, and two goodie balls.

After I returned from shopping I popped some popcorn in a hot air popper, sprayed it with organic olive oil Pam spray, and sprinkled nutritional yeast on it. Then I had a pear and a banana.

For dinner I am serving steamed broccoli; steamed cabbage; salad (romaine, cucumber, green onions, tomatoes, and lemon juice); suaerkraut; goody balls, veggie cocktail, and peppermint tea. I won't eat all of this, but that is what I will choose from. It's better not to eat the steamed veggies, but sometimes when it is so cold I feel like I need them.

I have ordered a copy of The 80/10/10 Diet by Doug Graham to use this year to help me stay on point. The biggest mistakes people make on 80/10/10 is not eating enough food, not getting enough sleep, and not drinking enough water. The 80/10/10 diet is a raw food diet made up of 80% carbs, 10% protein and 10% fat. The Ornish diet is similar, but uses cooked foods.

Friday, December 28, 2012

We had Christmas with Molly, Ken, Zac, Braeden and Ashlyn at our house on December 22. It was a special time to give and receive from each other. We had to watch our son and his family open their gifts in California via Skype. Skype is a blessing when you can't be with each other.

Ashlyn liked her bike.

Braeden liked his television.

Zac liked his iphone.

Ashlyn liked her Ugg boots.

This is what it looked like when we got through.

Christmas Eve was warm, and you hardly needed a sweater, but look what happened early on Christmas morning. They are calling it Mistlesnow. It is the first time snow has fallen
here on Christmas Day since 1926. It snowed until it was 15" deep. I have been hibernating ever
since.

This is the view from my bedroom window.

I made snow ice cream using almond milk.

Here is the recipe for snow ice cream.

Snow Ice Cream

1 gallon snow

1 cup palm sugar or other sugar

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 cups almond milk

Travis was smart enough to leave one of the cars parked on the road, otherwise we would not have been able to get out to go to the store yesterday. There was a forecast for freezing rain last night, but, thankfully, that did not happen

Cleaning off the windshield.

Travis shoveled us a path up to the road.

All stocked up and ready for the next round

I had a splitting headache through the night last night. I am not sure what triggered it, but my suspicion is that it was caused by eating a can of Amy's Organic Black Bean Soup. The soup had 1240 mg of sodium in it. And this is supposed to be a healthy brand. Nevertheless, the cause is always in the lifestyle.

Durian Rider is a raw food guy that teaches on You Tube. I usually can't share his videos because of his bad language, but he is dispensing really good information in a pure form. He counseled a 450 lb female binge eater in a way that helped me. He said that you are meant to be a binge eater. The only difference in him and her, he said, is that he eats low fat, high carb, low sodium, low protein. Eat as much as you can, just change what you put in your mouth. It's a choice in the moment. Just make sure you make the right choices. Forget about this emotional eating junk. We all eat emotionally. Just binge on the good stuff.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Yesterday
was our raw food group meeting and potluck at my house. Even though it
is so close to the holidays, we had ten people show up. This group is
always encouraging. Even though no one is perfect in the raw food lifestyle, they understand the principles and they love the food. The food was really good yesterday.

Jennifer and Erika. Jennifer is studying at the Integrative Institute of Nutrition.

Letizia and Gabrielle

Karl and Travis

We have decided to make a group study of 12 Steps to Raw by Victoria Boutenko. Here is Becky checking out a copy of the book.

Jerry is giving his approval of the veggie cocktail which was made of juiced beets, carrots, and celery.

Linda, Janis and Becky

Letizia made her first raw food dish to bring to the potluck. She made a ranch dip from nuts and served it with a veggie tray.

I made a Chia Seed Pudding for the potluck which uses almond milk. With the almond pulp leftover from making the milk, I made this wonderful Banana Bread. It was delicious. I will be making this again.

Recipe for Banana Bread:

1 cup almond pulp

1 cup coconut

6-12 dates, not soaked

1 banana

1/4 cup coconut oil

Mix the coconut and dates in the food processor. Then add the banana, coconut oil and almond pulp and process together to make a dough.

Spread on a teflex sheet about 1/4" thick then dehydrate overnight. Flip and dry the other side.

Banana Bread

It's time to get ready for a new start as we go into 2013. I ordered two copies of 80/10/10 by Doug Graham to use next year.

I went to the Christmas party at the nursing home where my 90 year
old Mom is a resident. I passed on the finger foods but enjoyed the
one-man band and Santa. Mom even got up out of her wheel chair and
danced a couple of times.

Mom and Santa

Just a reminder of some advice I got not too long ago from Dr. John Fielder. You need to be squeaky clean in your habits, even when you are around people whose lifestyles are unhealthy else they will drain your energies. It's important to be very particular to ensure that this doesn't occur. This means not indulging in too many late nights, eating in restaurants, eating wrong foods, insufficient exercise in the fresh air and sunlight, insufficient rest, etc., and generally not taking time out for yourself. Worry is the icing on the cake. Your body and mind are telling you to stop it all and get back to sanity.